Lanthanide and other rare earth elements such as yttrium are finding increasing application in the microelectronics industry in uses such as VT tuning and etch resistant materials. Thin film precursors of these elements (Sc, Y, La—Lu) typically have low vapor pressures. The low vapor pressure makes it more difficult to provide sufficient precursor species to the substrate.
Additionally, the ligands of typical precursors are well designed for deposition of MOx films, but can be relatively unreactive with ALD co-reagents towards non-metal oxide film types. Therefore, there is a need in the art for lanthanum precursors and improved methods for the deposition of lanthanum containing films.